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NHL: New York Islanders at Montreal Canadiens
Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images

The Montreal Canadiens hosted the New York Islanders on Saturday night, with both teams looking to improve their odds in the tightly contested playoff race in the Eastern Conference

The Habs were powered by their first line, a recurring theme over the course of the last few seasons. Against the Islanders, the trio scored four goals, driving the charge in the pivotal 7-3 victory.

With the win, Montreal’s playoff odds rose to 84 percent, a fairly healthy situation, all things considered.

Let’s dive into the highlights!

Power In The Play

The Canadiens broke the ice by scoring on the powerplay, an encouraging sign considering they haven’t capitalized on all their man advantage opportunities in the recent stretch of games.

It was Juraj Slafkovsky who scored, which shouldn’t come as a shock since he leads all Canadiens players in powerplay goals this year, and by a decent margin, too. Slafkovsky has scored 14 times on the powerplay, while Nick Suzuki serves as the only other Habs player to reach double-digit goals (10) with the man advantage.

Secondary Scoring In Play

The Islanders would go on to score the next two goals, including one from former Hab Emil Heineman, his 20th of the year.

In response, Alex Newhook unleashed an excellent one timer to tie the game, assisted by Kaiden Guhle and Oliver Kapanen. It was Newhook’s 10th goal of the year, and it could not have come at a better time.

Mr. Saturday Night

The reason the Canadiens are always desperately seeking secondary scoring is that they do most of their damage with the first line. For example, Cole Caufield, Mr. Saturday night himself, gave the Habs a fragile one-goal lead heading into the second intermission. His 41st goal of the year was not a blistering shot, nor a great deke, but rather, a smart shot from a forward who evolved from a one-trick pony into a multi-scoring threat every time he’s in the offensive zone.

Coming Up Big

The Islanders proceeded to tie the game, again, with a powerplay goal early in the third period. The good news for the Habs is that they responded perfectly to the adversity, starting with Kaiden Guhle’s second goal of the year to restore a one-goal lead.

What happened next is shocking if you haven’t managed to catch a single game in the last two years. As per tradition, the first line drove the charge, as Slafkovsky scored his second goal of the game to give the Habs a 5-3 lead.

Fittingly, it was assisted by the usual suspects, Suzuki and Caufield. Montreal’s trio continues to provide ample evidence to suggest they’re among the best lines in the NHL.

Sometimes a theme comes together perfectly.

On Saturday night, the first-line domination came to the forefront on several occasions, including Caufield’s second goal of the game to give the Canadiens a three-goal lead midway through the third period. Oh, and it was also Caufield’s 42nd goal of the season.

To put a fine point on the night, Caufield registered his third career hat trick to put the game out of reach. It was particularly satisfying for the Habs, as the Islanders had suddenly found their courage when they were down by three goals and had an additional skater on the ice.

Matthew Barzal, in particular, made a fool of himself trying to engage with Suzuki.

But in the end, it did not matter, as the Canadiens outclassed the Islanders by a wide margin.

The Montreal Canadiens are back in action on Tuesday, hosting the Carolina Hurricanes at the Bell Centre, with the puck drop scheduled for 7 pm ET.

All Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick.

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By Marc Dumont
Marc has been covering the Habs for over a decade. He previously worked for Journal Metro, The Athletic, The ... More about Marc Dumont

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